30th Apr 2026 10:46
(Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Thursday reported better-than-hoped underlying sales growth, despite a drop in overall revenue, with Emerging Markets and Power Brands performing well.
The London-based consumer goods firm, which owns brands such as Hellman's mayonnaise, Knorr stock cubes and Colman's mustard, reported total revenue of EUR12.56 billion in the first quarter, down 3.3% from EUR12.99 billion the year prior.
Underlying sales growth of 3.8% beat the 3.6% market consensus cited by JPMorgan, with volume growth of 2.9% and price growth of 0.9%.
"We have started the year well with volume-led growth driven by our Power Brands and a positive performance across all business groups," said Chief Executive Fernando Fernandez.
Shares in Unilever rose 1.9% to 4,294.50 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By division, Unilever said underlying sales grew 3.6% in Beauty & Wellbeing, 3.7% in Personal Care, 6.1% in Home Care and 2.2% in Foods.
Growth was broad-based across categories, with Power Brands leading performance with 5.0% underlying sales growth and 4.0% volume growth.
Emerging Markets saw 5.7% underlying sales growth, led by strong advances in India and a good recovery in Latin America.
Unilever left full-year guidance unchanged, forecasting underlying sales growth for 2026 to be at the bottom end of its multi-year guidance range of 4% to 6%, with at least 2% underlying volume growth for the full year.
In 2025, Unilever reported sales of EUR50.50 billion.
The firm anticipates a modest improvement in underlying operating margin for the full year versus 20.0% in 2025.
Commenting on the deal to combine its Foods business with McCormick & Co, Unilever said work is underway to support the delivery of forecast synergies.
Unilever expects to report stranded costs of EUR400 million to EUR500 million following the separation, which will be offset by savings from 2027 to 2029, while incurring one-off restructuring costs of EUR500 million over that period.
The deal is expected to close by mid-2027 "at the latest" and follows the December 2025 demerger of Magnum Ice Cream Co.
"We continue to move at speed to build a simpler, sharper Unilever with a structurally higher growth profile and a brand portfolio fit for the future," noted CEO Fernandez.
Unilever said its capital allocation priorities remain unchanged, with the EUR1.5 billion share buyback, announced in February, starting today.
The buyback, which will be run by Morgan Stanley & Co International PLC, is expected to be completed by July 6.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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